Day 1 - IFA International

TRADE TALK

TRADE TALK ElectronicPartner: Sales Up 2.6% in 2015 and Trend Continues Karl Trautmann, member of the management board ElectronicPartner is back at IFA again this year with his teams as part of the group’s ongoing and indeed growing partnership with Messe Berlin. We asked him how business has been going… We can look back on the 2015 financial year with satisfaction. At 1,570 billion euros in the core German market, our central sales are slightly below the prior year. The minor decline is due to the outsourcing of the mobile communications business to SH Telekommunikation Deutschland GmbH, where we acquired the majority of the company’s shares last year. On international level ElectronicPartner ended the year of 2015 with sales of 388 million Euros and an increase of 2.6%. Overall, last year was very successful for us. 2016 is expected to continue this way. As regards the individual product groups, especially white goods were strong in small and major electrical appliances; these product groups again increased their sales share within the buying group. There was a similar trend in mobile communications hardware. The TV category declined slightly as expected in our conservative planning. As a buying group with a smaller structure, what are your key advantages? ElectronicPartner thrives on a particular mixture. The family business is still located in Düsseldorf where it all began almost 80 years ago whilst it has been focusing on Europe early on. Right now, we focus on collaboration with the international network E-Square. Reliability and innovation, stability and an awareness of the latest trends are only some of the contrasting elements that define and distinguish us. We occupy a strong position within our branch of the industry and will continue to expand this position by means of innovative approaches. Despite increasing dynamism in the market, our long history of success puts us in an ideal position to confidently work together with our members and partners in the industry. What is the key differentiation factor of your stores? EP specialist retailers are dedicated to a shared quality concept. They promise their customers: “our service makes the difference.” At the same time they are the local contacts to give first-class advice and comprehensive services. The selections of EP specialist retailers stand for high-quality branded products with attractive price-performance ratios. Customers can count on extra services like installation, repair and maintenance or financing just as much as support for the “smart” home. Another important factor is personal and individual advice – not just in the shop but also in the customer’s home if the customer so wishes. This is often the best place to find out how consumers can achieve more energy savings in the household or connect electronic equipment to their best advantage. How important is your relationship with IFA? In past years, ElectronicPartner organised its own fair trades for members in autumn. In 2015 we decided to establish a new concept and integrate our own show into IFA. Fortunately the most important fair trade of our industry branch doesn’t take place in Tokyo, London or Rio but in Berlin. Therefore we highly recommend to all our members to visit IFA as it is an absolute “must see”. Your thoughts on IFAInternational - the official daily? It’s a pleasure to be informed every day on all the highlights during IFA. Due to the show offering such a wide range of trends and products, IFAInternational provides a great overview for all visitors WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND TO ALL OUR MEMBERS TO VISIT IFA AS IT IS AN ABSOLUTE “MUST SEE”. 34

ADVERTORIAL TRADE TALK The Newegg Global Seller Program brings together thousands of businesses and millions of products through an international platform to meet the buying needs of consumers worldwide. Sophia Tsao VP, Head of Marketplace is at IFA again this year – and we asked her to tell us more… Newegg is North America’s 2 nd largest pure play e-commerce retailer and #1 tech focused marketplace platform with access to over 30 million registered customers. The Newegg marketplace platform offers a complete e-commerce solution and not something that you can avoid. We use an omnichannel approach when we execute our content and promotional strategies, tailoring the message specifically to the individual channel for the greatest effect. We utilise an approach that pairs our content and commerce Recent trends that are shaping the industry fall into a few areas: Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and home automation (IoT). Over the past year, the amount of interest in VR has been growing at a breakneck pace. Primarily circulating within the gaming community now, its ecosystem will encompass the hardware necessary to play the games, as well as the games themselves and accessories that make this all possible. AR is also a booming area within the tech community, and as we Sophia Tsao VP, Head of Marketplace, Newegg Global Marketplace Newegg creates market share for European sellers marketing program to help merchants, retailers, manufactures, & brands, explore online Cross-Border Trade. Our program provides a shortcut for merchants to access the massive North America consumer market, by providing a fulfilment service, Shipped by Newegg (SBN), a variety of marketing & merchandising tools to help provide extra exposure, customer together to ensure that we are leading our customers with education and expertise, while giving them the promotional push to increase conversions. This is done in different ways on different channels, but it all comes down to covering all our bases on all the channels. Our User Experience team works tirelessly to test and improve the functions on our entities to look at the recent popularity of the Pokemon GO mobile game across multiple countries we can see why. With the Internet of Things (IoT) in general, the integration of technology that connects the different aspects of our life is helping to advance our comfort, efficiency, and safety, however the most natural starting point for this innovation is the home. WE USE AN OMNICHANNEL APPROACH WHEN WE EXECUTE OUR CONTENT AND PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES service, and other value-added services. These are all designed to lower and eliminate common barriers and challenges to make entry into the North American market fast, easy, and profitable. A lot of people are talking about Mobile Commerce. How do you fit in there? Newegg ranked 2016 Mobile 500 top 10 in US and #24 worldwide and in 2015 our mobile traffic increased YOY 128%. With today’s rapidly changing landscape, mobile is the centre of discussion and it is simply ensure that we are constantly striving for the best possible interaction we can present. We have integrated SMS messaging into our customer service umbrella to allow customers to contact us whenever they need to, without needing to be put on hold or into an online queue and we are adopting a progressive model on our mobile technology development. What key market trends are you experiencing at the moment? We heard about a German company that has had a lot of success selling on Newegg… Yes, the Newegg global seller program has fostered the successful launch of quite a few European brands into the North American market through Newegg.com. One of which is a PC components brand called, be quiet!. Their growing success in Germany led them to consider expansion in the US market. However, challenges in scaling a business while maintaining control over distribution and marketing made the possibility of expansion difficult. After joining Newegg Marketplace in 2014, be quiet! has seen tremendous year over year growth. The ease in integration coupled with a savvy Marketplace team gave be quiet! a new stage to shine on, and their turnover has grown tenfold www.ifa-international.org IFAInternational • Friday 2 nd September 2016 35